SOUTH QUAD: PURPLE AND WHITE MODULE

After Monokuma disappeared, Lucina and bid each other goodbye and went our separate ways again. I was optimistic about our future, but not in a way that meant I wanted to hang out with her one-on-one for a couple of days.

I returned to the pod I'd left before and was surprised to find Jane still there, looking frazzled but determined to keep her cool. She nodded to me tersely. "Did anyone get murdered?"

"Um, no. Not that I know of."

"Good." She squinted at the droning man on the television as if he was her lifelong nemesis. "Repeating the silly noises did not work."

I looked at the screen, and the man just kept on talking, "Pah. Bah. Gah. Mah."

"But, I had a breakthrough," Jane continued. She walked over to the screen and stood next to it, holding up a finger, as if to tell me to wait a moment.

"Fah. Bah. Gah."

She reached up and covered the man's mouth with her hand. And bizarrely, the man's speech changed. "Pah. Pah. Pah. Pah."

"Whoa, how did you do that?" I asked.

"I didn't do anything," she clarified. "The man only says one thing. But when we see him speak..."

She removed her hand, and the sounds changed as I watched his lips move. "Fah. Wah."

She smirked, looking proud of herself. "It seems seeing the mouth move interferes with our basic perception of the sound. We literally hear things differently based on what we see."

I chewed on that for a moment. "Okay. Well, have you tried saying it out loud?"

"Not yet." She giggled surprisingly childishly. "Say it with me darling, will you?"

I was skeptical, but together, we said, in time with the man, "Pah. Pah. Pah. Pah." And on the fourth one, we heard a click. I looked over, and the previously closed door was now hanging ajar.

"Hah!" Jane screeched at the man on the television, and then she gleefully stuck out her tongue and licked the screen. I heard a popping sound and the screen went black.

Jane strutted towards the now open door, but she stopped when she saw me not following. "Hm?" She looked at me blankly for a moment, then nodded. "Oh. My saliva interferes with telecommunications electronics."

"Of course it does," I said. Sighing, I followed her into the new room.

SOUTH QUAD: PURPLE AND WHITE MODULE BACK ROOM

The room was empty except for a desk which had several pieces of paper strewn across it haphazardly. They looked like old newspaper cut-outs.

I picked up the nearest one, finding, to my dismay, that it was in Spanish. I was absolutely terrible at Spanish, which had been pretty embarrassing back in Miami. It wasn't from lack of effort; I just got too frustrated when things didn't make sense to me, like, immediately.

"I can speak all sorts of languages!" Katy had said, smiling with purely innocent benevolence.

Glowering, I did my best to stumble through the article to figure out why it was there. I didn't see anything in there that appeared to be about the university or Dr. Alameda. From what I could tell, it was just about some video game that had appeared on some open source server (thankfully they just used english words for "open source") and everyone was totally amazed at how elegante the code was. Because of some tech stuff, I didn't understand, people thought the creator was in Puerto Rico, but no one knew...

I froze. An amazing game from Puerto Rico? "This is about Therion, I think," I said.

Jane glanced up from the paper she was skimming. "This is an extremely manic interview our old friend Nicole gave at a fashion show in Italy."

I picked up another paper, which was torn out of some art magazine. Apparently someone had broken in to Alcatraz and turned it into some kind of creepy museum. "Oh, shit," I muttered. "Did you hear about that Alcatraz thing last year? Hanging Barbie heads all over the place and writing poetry on the walls and stuff, and it was a big mystery? I think Morgan might have done that. Or... the Vandal, I guess."

Jane rolled her eyes. "Well, this is utterly useless. Unless I need to know trivia about what clubs I could have seen DJ Rocky K playing at..." she looked over the newspaper page, "...nine months ago, I must admit I'm disappointed."

"Hmm." I looked over one of the last pages. "Well, not all of these are about us. Like this one." I indicated the headline, which said Local Teenager Accepted to All Eight Ivy League Colleges. It showed a picture of some normal-looking guy smiling proudly, and it seemed like a pretty heartwarming story... he'd been an average student until his mother suddenly died and he got really motivated to honor her... I couldn't tell what any of this had to do with us.

"Oh dear me," Jane said, suddenly standing behind me and reading over my shoulder. I jumped a bit in surprise but she just kept talking. "Look closer at the picture, darling."

I did, and I couldn't find anything noteworthy at first. But then I saw her. Standing behind the boy and his father, among a crowd of appreciative spectators, a completely expressionless look on her face... was Juliet.

I set the article down on the table very quickly.

"Okay," I said. "Yeah. I see the connection, now. But what about this one?" I held up the last paper there was to examine, an obituary about a young boy in Calgary who'd died after surgery. "None of us are Canadian. And..."

Jane suddenly grabbed the article out of my hands, tearing it, and sent the remnants streaming to the floor.

"Wagh!" I yelped, jumping away. "Jane, what the hell?!"

"Don't talk about things you don't understand," she growled. "This is... this has scientific value that would be completely lost on a simpleton like you. Just die in ignorance, you..."

She raised her arm and I flinched, but she didn't follow through. She just trailed off, dropping her arm to her side. "I... apologize," she said briskly. "That was quite undignified of me."

I remembered that the kid's last name had been Edwards, and... although I couldn't quite actually remember what Jane's name was, I think it was something like that. "Was that your brother?" I asked.

She huffed slightly, reminding me of all the world like some sort of offended bird. "I might as well tell you, since you're clearly going to be murdered next," she said, giving me a contemptuous glare I didn't for one second believe. "Yes. That was my brother. Richard."

She looked very different than I'd ever seen her before, and her sadness was almost overwhelming for a moment. "I'm sorry."

"Don't." She pointed, giving me a hard glare. "'Sorry' is only supposed to be for people who are helpless, and I was not. I had all the tools of science at my disposal, and..." She held up a gloved hand; I remembered that it was bright green underneath. "I didn't go far enough."

"Is this... why you started doing your research?" I ventured. "To try to save him?"

"I didn't try!" she suddenly bellowed, rearing up to somehow several inches taller than before. "That's what I'm saying! I stopped myself, because of stupid, short-term..." She snorted, glowering down at the floor. "I was cowardly and foolish. I convinced myself my body couldn't handle it, like the pathetic liar I am. I..." She sniffled, and a reddish-brown streak dripped down her cheek.

I couldn't stop myself from grimacing. "What is that?!"

She brought a hand up to her face and then looked at the fingertips of her gloves. "Ugh," she muttered. "Don't freak out, it's just iodine. Another one of my stupid failed tests. As if I deserved for one second to be feeling sorry for myself like this."

"Jane..." I took a step forward; she suddenly seemed the least intimidating person I'd ever met. "Listen. I can't imagine what it's like to lose your brother, but you were experimenting on yourself to the point that your tears turned to iodine. It seems like you were doing all you could."

"If I was doing all I could, I would have succeeded." She sniffled again; it sounded like a determined attempt to stop crying. "Not give up just because one of my fingers turned into five fingers."

"I... what?" I have to admit, that caught me off guard. "One of your fingers... is five fingers? What does that mean?"

Jane peeled off her right glove and held up her hand. It took me a second to really register it, but... although it was not larger than normal, her right index finger was indeed made up of five smaller little tentacle-things. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen.

"It... hurt," she said, scorn just dripping from her voice. "That's how pathetic I am. Because of pain I felt in one little finger... I stopped. And then he died."

"Your finger turned in to five fingers!" I yelled. "Of course that made you stop! You could have killed yourself, experimenting like that!" I paused. "I really don't want to be judgmental but looking at that is really blowing my mind, could you please put your glove back on?"

She pulled her glove back on, regaining some degree of her usual poise. "I'm used to those without the proper scientific orientation getting too emotional about such things. I shouldn't be surprised."

I softened slightly. "Is this why you were so protective of Emily? She reminded you of your brother?"

She didn't look at me. "No. Richard wasn't a scientist at all; he was creative and fanciful." She sighed. "I was protective of Emily just because she was a delightful person."

I froze then nodded. "Yeah. She was."

There was a moment where we just looked at each other, and then she raised her chin haughtily. "Well. I have completely embarrassed myself, it seems. I'm quite grateful you'll be dying next."

"If you're from Calgary, why do you have a British accent?" I asked.

She coughed. "I was educated in England. There was nowhere else to properly teach me genetics."

"Uh huh. That article was only a couple of years old. Was that really long enough to get a new accent?"

She regarded me with pure hate. "Perhaps I should not so lightly remark about your impending murder," she said, finally.

"I'd appreciate that," I replied, then tilted my head slightly. "Jane... I think this is the kind of thing the mastermind wants to take advantage of. I think you're safer having talked about it."

"Well, when I want a naive little girl's opinion, I'll ask for it," she snapped, but there wasn't any bite to it anymore. It actually sounded a little warm.

SOUTH QUAD: WHITE AND GREY MODULE

Jane decided to go back to her room, but I was up for some more exploration. I wandered a bit and heard some activity from one of the pods.

I stepped inside and found Rocky and Rodrigo bent over a table with a stack of papers on it. Barrett stood off to the side, not really doing much of anything.

Rocky turned and waved. "Yo!" Rodrigo waved too. Barrett just stared.

"Uh... hi," I said hesitantly. "You... okay there, Barrett?"

He looked up at me. "Okay there."

"Ah," Rodrigo said. "Friend Barrett is... not himself today, it seems?"

Barrett nodded in agreement. "Himself today."

I regarded him for a moment, scratching my head. "Well. I guess that's understandable, after everything that's happened."

"Indeed!" Rodrigo said with odd enthusiasm. "I've always felt Friend Barrett has a good heart that was covered by his tendency for... aggression. I despise the trauma and pain I've been unable to protect him from, but perhaps every crisis also contains an opportunity."

I glanced at Rocky, who just shrugged. "We found him just wandering around. Gotta try to do something with him, right? You break, you gotta be rebuilt."

Frowning, I stepped closer to Barrett. I waved my hand in front of his face, and his eyes didn't move... but he did blink. "Hey, anyone there?"

He stared for a moment, then he creakingly smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

"Um." I stepped back, raising an eyebrow. "For real, are you okay?"

He blinked, then slowly turned his head to look at me. When he spoke, it was alien-sounding, like it was a great effort to even use his mouth to form words. "Nicole died."

I was taken aback for a second, but then I recovered and nodded sadly. "Yeah. I know."

"Afraid... she was right." His lips were really chapped and dry. "I'm..." His mouth fell open, then he suddenly coughed. "I might be empty? No... beliefs. Nothing but... fire. Need help."

Rodrigo nodded smartly. "Indeed! And we will help him!"

"Uh, Roddy's going to help him," Rocky clarified. "I don't know shit about beliefs and the right way to live and all that stuff."

Rodrigo clapped Rocky on the back, looking massive next to the willowy musician. "Friend Rocky, you know more than you think! Far more than I. Your virtuous heart will help friend Barrett more than anything else, I know it!"

Noticing Rocky's blush and frankly not wanting to see anyone flirting with anyone at the moment, I stepped in. "Well, okay. I really am sorry about Nicole, Barrett, but I'm glad you're trying to honor her."

He just gave me another thumbs up.

I walked over to the table, looking at the stacks of paper. "So, I think a lot of these trailers have important information about the university behind these doors, and there's... like, tests or puzzles we have to solve in each one to get access."

"Yeah," Rocky agreed. "We just saw one where you had to, like, identify a bunch of different toe bones? Or something?"

"I was never allowed to study anatomy at the monastery," Rodrigo glowered. "The monks said it led to dreams of lust."

"Hm," I said, "I don't know much either, but just because I didn't take AP Bio."

I looked closer at the stack of paper on the table. Unlike the previous pod, this one had much clearer instructions. The top was labeled VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Just below it, it read, Insert scantron sheet into provided slot. The door will only open for someone with the right personality!

I glanced over to the door. There was indeed a slot and a blank TV screen on the wall next to it. "Uh, important informaton?" I said.

"Yeah, not likin' the sound of that," Rocky replied. "Hey, give it a try, will you? Me and Roddy already did, but I guess we don't have 'the right personalities.'"

I raised an eyebrow, but just looked back down at the papers. It was a series of questions, each one with a series of bubble-in answers. "This... measures my personality?" I asked skeptically. I read the first question out loud: "'How much do you agree with the following statement: I dislike disgusting things." I blinked and looked around in bewilderment. "...doesn't everyone dislike disgusting things, like, by definition?"

"Not the same amount, I guess?" Rocky said. "All the questions are weird like that."

I picked up one of the pens on the table and began filling in bubbles. Midway through, it occurred to me that I could potentially be supplying the mastermind with important information, but they seemed to already know everything about my life already, so it probably didn't matter. I did my best to just be honest.

When I was done, I took my sheet and slid it into the slot. After a moment, the screen lit up, displaying, with red letters, INCORRECT PERSONALITY

I frowned. "That... kind of hurts my feelings, actually."

"Twas the same with us," Rodrigo bemoaned. Frustrated, I took another sheet and quickly filled in 1 for all the questions. I slipped that into the slot and waited.

The screen lit up. ALERT. FAMILIAR FINGERPRINT DETECTED! DATA INVALID.

"You only get one shot?!" Rocky wailed. "Damn it. I wonder who has the 'correct personality.'"

I crossed my arms and hunched over, feeling kind of pouty. I jumped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned, and behind me was Barrett. He gave me a thumbs up.

DORM: SAYA'S ROOM

Murderer's Theater was different that night. The whole group, Monokuma included, sat in a circle among a messy pile of laundry, blankets, and pillows. JP took a hit from a bong. Nicole laughed.

"Truth..." Therion was saying. "No. Fact is real. Opinion is not real. Easy distinction!"

"Aha!" Earl countered, leaning casually back against a futon. "It's clearly not as simple as that! How can you say an opinion... say... my own hatred of murderers... is not 'real?' It influences me! In a brain scanner, you could observe it directly! Sounds real to me!"

"No, no," Therion said, waving his hands. "No. Existence of opinion is fact. Fact itself is not. Existence of thing and thing are not same thing." He paused. "Imagine giraffes. Giraffe exists. Not the same thing as giraffe itself!"

Nicole laughed.

"Whoa," JP said. "Like... what even is real? What if everything is just an opinion? Are giraffes an opinion?"

"Listen." Therion smacked a fist into his palm. "Here's difference: facts possible to prove wrong. Opinions not."

"But anything can be proven wrong," Earl argued. "You simply must use the appropriate words! I believe killing to be evil, except in the most extreme of circumstances. It fits into my definition of 'evil!' I can easily prove it correct, using that definition! I simply am unable to prove my definition of 'evil' is the right one! So, are opinions simply definitions of words?"

"Whoa," JP mused. "Everything's, like, words."

Therion held up a finger to reply, then he paused. He muttered something in Spanish and then flopped over onto his back. Nicole laughed.

"Words are irritating," Therion grumbled. "Necessary evil. Must always pay attention to words people use and meanings people intend." He held out his hand to JP. JP passed over the bong. Nicole laughed.

DORM: MAIN ENTRANCE

Everything just felt heavy and sluggish as I made my way downstairs. I wasn't feeling a constant pang of being in danger, which actually made me worry I was in danger.

As I walked across the hall towards the exit to the quad, I heard a thump. I turned to see Giuseppi sticking his head out of the door to the computer lab. "Oh," he said. "Good. Hey. Come in here."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Lemme just show you."

DORM: COMPUTER LAB

I literally jumped in shock as I stepped into the room. The computer lab was completely destroyed: terminals and monitors and keyboards and desks had been smashed and strewn all around. "Oh shit," I muttered. "Like the cafeteria."

"Yeah," Bepi agreed grimly. "Exactly like the cafeteria."

I poked at the wreckage a bit, but there really didn't seem to be anything important there. The room had just been taken apart for no apparent reason. "Who would do this?"

"I don't know, but only one of us is a professional demolitionist," Bepi replied.

"Huh," I said, frowning. "I mean... yeah, I wouldn't put it past Barrett to just smash stuff up for no reason, but have you seen him since the trial? He's kind of... weird."

"Weird?"

"Yeah. Spacey. Like he's not all there. It's kinda super creepy, actually."

Bepi just shrugged. "Whatever. He's fucking with us. Or Juliet's fucking with us. Or the bear's fucking with us."

"Maybe someone was looking for one of those Monokuma tunnels, you know?" I ventured. "Like we found in the ROTC."

"Maybe." He sighed. "Shit. I was hoping for a few days off, at least. This is exhausting."

I glanced at him curiously. "A few days off from what?"

"From murder shit, obviously." He fixed his one eye on me seriously. "Look, you have to assume that's why this is happening, right?"

I started to reply, then thought a moment. "I... don't think I agree." I blinked, surprised at my own forthrightness.

Bepi put his hands on his hips, looking irritated, but he just said, "Why not?"

"Juliet had a motive, even if it was insane," I explained. "Protecting the men. And all the tension recently from those fairy tales... I mean, most of the people driving that conflict are... well... dead. Right now, there's not a lot of motive."

"There's a whole quad full of potential motives," Bepi pointed out. "We don't know what's in all those boxes out there. And one of us might still be the mastermind, if that Alameda thing isn't true, remember."

"I still don't think there's enough reason to kill."

"Okay, well how about this." Bepi's one eye was hard and steely. "Someone commits murder because they can't stand how the girl they like is fucking someone else."

I emitted a choking noise, halfway between angry and shocked. "How can you say that? I wouldn't do that!"

He kept my gaze for a moment and then looked away. "Or, maybe a murder gets committed because someone figures out that if you kill Katy, Saya will take all the heat."

I didn't have a response to that one. "Does literally everyone know?" I asked after a moment.

He shrugged. "Rodrigo might not. Oh, and Katy has no clue, of course."

There was a brief silence, then he sighed. "Look," he said, "I don't, like, take joy in being the doomsayer. But we're in a world of shit, and that means we're made of shit too, and if we want to survive, we gotta accept it."

I tried to think of something to say back, but before I got the chance, some beeping went off from out pockets. We both took our tablets out and looked at our new email.

"'Meet at the Cricket in fifteen minutes,'" Bepi read. He looked up at me. "You know what the Cricket is?"

"Uh, yeah. It's in the new quad. I'll show you."

He sighed. "I'd ask what it was, but I know already. Just another way to get us to kill each other."

I frowned but didn't reply. Slowly, we made our way to the south quad.

SOUTH QUAD: THE CRICKET

The garish, huge machine was now lit up inside its module, and it looked pretty terrifying, now that I had a better look. It had a bunch of arcane machinery at the top, and below was a circle of seats.

Rodrigo, Rocky, and Barrett were already there when we arrived. I waved, but I paused when I saw that Barrett had a towel around his neck, and the top of his head was coated in some kind of white paste.

"Uh," I said, "you okay, there?" He gave me a thumbs up.

"Oh, we're changing his look," Rocky said, grinning. "Dude needs highlights!" He yanked gently on his own scraggly, blonde hair. "I'm natural now, but when I wanted to make a big change, I dyed my hair. Symbolic, you know?"

"I guess that makes sense," Bepi said.

Jane walked up next, scowling. "Goddamn thing tells me my personality is incorrect. My personality is entirely correct, thank you very much..."

"Aha," Rodrigo said. "Friend Jane, have you been attempting to access the Very Important Information?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Jane grunted, but I think less snappishly than she would have a week ago. "Social science is maddeningly imprecise."

Katy and Lucina came next, holding hands. They... really were just always together now. Still, I managed to wave and smile. Katy looked deliriously happy. Lucina looked... quietly happy.

Luckily Juliet came up right after them, and I paused for a moment wondering at a mental state where Juliet's presence could possibly be considered "lucky." She stood nearest to me, but she didn't make eye contact with anyone.

"My dear students!" Monokuma's voice suddenly bellowed from above us. "You are all in for a real treat today!"

We looked up; he was standing in the middle of the Cricket machine, rubbing his paws together in glee. "Come in! Have a seat! I'll shoot you in the face if you don't!"

Very skeptically, I walked to the machine and examined it. It seemed obvious I was supposed to sit in one of these seats, so I settled myself in one. It was surprisingly comfortable. Each seat was set in some kind of open boxlike thing, so I could see the top halves of everyone else's torso sticking up. Everyone looked pretty confused.

"Good, good!" Monokuma cheered. "Now, please strap on the provided headpiece, and we will get started!"

I looked around my immediate area and saw something I hadn't noticed before. There was a helmet-looking thing sitting right by me, connected to the machine with a legion of wires, circuits and computer chips exposed and covering everything.

"Uh, is this safe?" Bepi asked. "This thing doesn't really look... finished."

"I think that it's almost certainly safe, given the definition of 'safe' created by university lawyers!" Monokuma bellowed. "Anyway, it's definitely safer than a shotgun shell to the face, so man up and put it on!"

Frowning, I placed the headpiece on and applied the chin-strap. I glanced around at everyone, then raised an eyebrow at Monokuma. "Is the whole point of this to just make us all look stupid?"

"Oh, you'll look stupider before the day is out!" he replied. He reached out and pulled a lever next to him, then he pushed a button below him. I felt a buzzing in my head, and soft, blue lights winked on, covering our headpieces and seats.

"All right!" Monokuma said. "That's it!"

We all looked around. "...That's it?" Katy asked.

"Yep! You'll stay here for the next ten minutes."

"Uh, what are we supposed to do?" Rocky asked.

"Converse! You know, like people used to know how to do before they were just staring at screens all day!"

"Oh, this is the stupidest thing I've ever seen," Jane snapped. Suddenly, all the blue lights on her head and seat turned red. After a moment, they flashed back to blue.

"My goodness!" Rodrigo exclaimed. "What happened?"

I shared a concerned look with Lucina. "Monokuma told me something yesterday," I spoke up. "He said this machine had something to do with lies."

"So, what, Jane just told a lie right now?" Rocky asked. He rubbed his chin in thought. "I mean. I guess it makes sense this wouldn't really be the stupidest thing Jane has seen ever in her life."

"Ugh." Jane rolled her eyes. "Just what we need, pedantic technology." Her lights turned red. "Gah! Sarcasm, really?"

"So... this thing will just let everyone know when we say something that isn't literally true?" Rocky ventured. "Hm, lemme try: 'I was born in Kathmandu.'" Red light. "Ha! Awesome."

"I am not the mastermind," Juliet said suddenly. We all whipped our heads to look at her, and her lights stayed blue. She tilted her head at me. "Your turn."

I frowned but complied. "I'm not the mastermind." No red.

Bepi went next, "I'm not the mastermind."

And then Jane: "I'm not the mastermind."

Rocky: "I'm not the mastermind."

And Rodrigo, "I am not the mastermind."

And Katy: "I'm not the mastermind."

Blue lights.

We all looked at Barrett, who looked back at us blankly. "Dude, say 'I'm not the mastermind,'" Rocky instructed.

"I'm not the mastermind!" Blue light.

Juliet had the most awful smile I've ever seen on her face. "Well, look at what process of elimination tells us," she sang, leering at Lucina.

"She's not the mastermind!" Katy yelled. "Whoever the real mastermind is wouldn't let this thing work on them."

Lucina held up a note, I am not the mastermind.

"Hah!" Katy whipped her head to Juliet. "See?"

"I didn't hear her say anything," Juliet replied.

"Wait," Rodrigo interrupted. "I do not understand this machine, of course, but let us use our reason. Friend Lucina, would you please write down a lie and present it to everyone?"

Hesitantly, Lucina nodded. She glanced down, her sharpie whirring over her note card, and before she was even done writing, her lights turned red. She held up her message, I am afraid of Juliet.

Katy grinned. "Well, there you go. It works on Lucina, even if she doesn't talk. She's not the mastermind."

"I'm still not convinced anyone's in the clear," Jane said. "There's probably stupid word games you can play. Let's try to figure out the actual rules of this machine. She glanced at Rocky. "DJ, will you do me a favor, darling? Please say, out loud, that the capital of Ghana is Monrovia."

"Uh, ok. The capital of Ghana is Monrovia." His lights stayed blue.

"Ah." Jane nodded smartly. "The capital of Ghana is Monrovia." Red light.

"Uh... what happened?" Rocky asked.

"I demonstrated an important feature of this apparatus," she explained. "It doesn't just turn red when we say something that isn't factually true. It turns red when we say something that we know isn't factually true. Rocky K didn't know the capital of Ghana, because of course he didn't, and so it wasn't a lie when he got it wrong."

"What about things that are misleading, but technically true?" I said. "Like, um, those stupid things, like, 'There are not fifty states in The United States.'" My light stayed blue.

"Wait, what?" Rocky asked.

I rolled my eyes. Like, some of them are 'commonwealths,' whatever that means."

Lucina held up a new message, My name is Lucina. She frowned. She scribbled a new note, I was trying to doubt it, but it didn't work.

Bepi spoke up. "I don't know for sure that George Washington existed." Red light. He nodded. "Yeah. See, it's technically true that I don't know for sure, but I guess I just can't make myself really believe it."

"What about something we aren't certain of?" Rodrigo pointed out. "Such as… 'elevators are controlled with magnets.'" Blue light. "Ah. So, it appears to not count as a lie if we assert something we don't know is true or not." He paused for a moment, and then, "'I am certain elevators are controlled with magnets.'" Red light.

Jane rolled her eyes. "Well, this is all very fun…" Red light. "…But pardon me if I find it all rather pointless. If the mastermind is immune to this machine, what can we gain?"

"Why, gossip, of course!" Juliet enthused, all ditzy again. "Hands up: Who here has a crush on Saya? I dooooo!" Red light. No one else said anything, and nothing happened.

"Actually this is useful," Bepi mused. "Hey everyone, don't say anything after I ask this question. 'Who here is female?" As requested, no one replied, and all the lights stayed blue. "It seems omissions don't count as lies, either."

"Hey, Rocky," Juliet leered, "have you and the monk fucked yet?"

Rocky gaped at her. "What? I… shit!" He grabbed his head, wincing. "What the hell? Gahh no! No!" He relaxed.

"What just happened?" Jane asked.

"Fuck, I just got this burning feeling in my head!" Rocky yelped. "It hurt like a bitch."

"…yet?" Rodrigo murmured, which was thankfully ignored by everyone else.

"But Rocky, the pain stopped… when you said 'no,'" I observed. I felt a chill. "It stopped when you answered Juliet's question."

"This thing makes you answer questions people ask?!" Rocky yelled. "Shit! We…"

"Wait," Bepi interrupted. "Rocky, you just asked a question, and I didn't feel anything."

"Neither did I," I said. "Hmm." I caught his gaze for a moment and he gave me a nod. "Is your birth name 'Giuseppi Perfetto?'"

He was quiet for a moment, then he suddenly burst out, "Fuck! No!" He panted, putting his hand against the helmet on his head. "Goddamn it, that does hurt. So, it's directed questions."

There was a silence as we pondered the consequences of this, but before I expected, I heard Katy's voice. "Juliet, why did you hurt Emily?"

Juliet grinned back at her. "Why didn't you protect Emily?"

Katy glared, then blinked. "Wait, I don't feel anything."

Jane hmphed and turned to Juliet. "Did you hurt Emily because you really wanted to save JP?"

Juliet didn't move for a few seconds, her pupils dilating as I watched. Finally, she burst out, "Yes!" Red light. She doubled over, breathing hard.

Jane smirked. "Oh, I enjoy this. It's yes/no questions, darling."

Lucina held up a message so Juliet could see; I think she had it already written and ready to go. Did you enjoy torturing her?

"Yes," Juliet snarled. Red light. "I mean… I mean no." Red light. She growled. "It was being myself," she clarified. "It was… real. I didn't want to. That's why I did it in the studio, so no one could hear me screaming."

"No one could hear you screaming?" Rocky asked.

"I wanted someone to hear me," she said. Red light. "I wanted to be stopped." Blue lights. "I tried to make it so clear. I tried to warn you."

"Have you ever loved any of your sweethearts at all?" I asked.

She looked at me blankly and a little helplessly for a moment. "No," she said. "That's why it hasn't worked. Being a monster is okay if it's all for love. Giving yourself to love is the greatest thing a woman can ever do. I… I just haven't figured out how yet."

"Ugh, ignore her," Jane snapped. "She's just crazy."

"I don't think I am," Juliet argued. "It's rational. I'm… I'm damned a thousand times, and I can't stop seeing their faces, and sometimes I get so horrified I can't even breathe. Emily…" she actually let out a choking sob. "…if I can only be cruel, then I have to make a way for cruelty to be good, and that's love." She paused, pressing her hand against her face. "I don't really care about any of this." Red light. "I'm only pretending to cry." No red lights.

Rodrigo looked down at her coldly. "Like Lucifer, you deserve sympathy, and you have mine. Also like Lucifer, your words are poison, and all you will receive from me is sympathy."

"You're all disgusting," Juliet snarled, still looking down at her lap. Red light. But then she suddenly whipper her head up, grinning. "Hey Saya, are you in love with Lucina?"

I heard Katy gasp and began to feel a sharp pain in my head, growing stronger with every passing second. I was shocked… but goddamn if I was going to give Juliet the satisfaction she wanted. "I don't know," I replied. Red light. The pain subsided.

Juliet giggled. "Oh, I forgot how clever you are, chessmistress." Red light. She swept her gaze around the circle. "You spend all this time ganging up on me, when I'm not the one you need to worry about murdering anyone. Silly."

There was an uncomfortable pause. Monokuma gigglingly broke the silence. "All right, that's ten minutes!" He flipped the switch next to him, and the machine powered down. "You may remove your helmets!"

I did my best not to look at Katy or Lucina as I unstrapped my headpiece. I wasn't really sure what I felt, but it wasn't good.

"Now remember," Monokuma said, "we'll be having more Cricket sessions every other day until there's another murder! I can't wait to hear what truths come out next time!"

"Oh, that's your stupid game," Bepi growled. "Make us do this over and over until we can't take it anymore."

"Truth is a habit all children must learn!" Monokuma said. "Take advantage of it! The Cricket will be retired after the next trial."

I froze. "Wait. After the next trial? Not the next murder?" I looked around. "So, if there is a murder, we'd be able to use this machine in the investigation?"

Monokuma giggled, but he didn't say anything.

SOUTH QUAD: PINK AND YELLOW MODULE

I pretty much just wanted to bolt from the scene as soon as I got out of that awful machine, but Bepi took me aside, saying he wanted to show me something he'd found. I dumbly followed him, more from the inability to come up with an excuse than any actual curiosity.

He took me to a smallish pod some distance away from the Cricket. When we got there, he sighed and gave me a soft look. "Are you all right?"

I paused, surprised. "Huh?"

"After all that. You all right?"

"Oh. Uh." I realized I didn't know how to answer. "I guess… I am?"

He held my gaze for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. I didn't realize until a minute ago, but you're bearing a lot of the weight, here. You run the trials, you keep everyone from completely going nuts on each other, you're Juliet's biggest target. And, um." He looked away, oddly abashed. "When I get stressed out, I kind of take it out on you."

I felt my face heating up; I wondered if this was a side he ever showed any of the other soldiers. "When you put it that way, it feels like a lot of responsibility, and that's weird," I said. "I'm used to being the center of problems, but not having people rely on me."

"Well, I'm used to both, so let me take some of the load, all right?" He shook his head at me in something that looked like wonder. "You really do think of yourself as weak, don't you? After everything." He laughed softly. "The most dangerous people I ever met are bad-asses who think they're not. Because they're not careful. So for my own safety, I'll be reminding you repeatedly that you're actually a brilliant, awesome bad-ass."

"Ack." I covered my face with my hands. "Stop!"

"Really?"

I paused. "Kind of?" I peeked out between my fingers. "No, keep going."

"Saya, don't forget that you're brilliant and awesome."

I laughed. "Fine, fine. Thanks."

He nodded sharply in a very soldier-looking way. "All right. Now, the thing I wanted to show you." He pointed over to a sign next to a closed door. The sign said SECRET WEAPON INSIDE

"Oh," I said. "That doesn't sound good."

Then, Bepi pointed to a very frightening-looking machine in the corner. PAIN MACHINE FOR SPOILED BRATS read a sign in front of it.

"Oh, that sounds even worse."

I looked closer. There was some sort of blood-pressure-looking thing that obviously was supposed to go around the arm, a switch, and a dial. Next to the dial was a gauge that said PAIN METER. At the bottom was a smiley face. As it rose, the levels were Yikes!, Oh no!, Agony, XXX, and then finally Door Opens.

"I tried 'oh no' for a few seconds," Bepi said. "It… did not feel good."

"Do you think anyone here will be able to get to the top?"

"Honestly? No. But it's still something to worry about."

I heard a soft cough behind us and turned. Katy stood there, looking embarrassed and shy.

"Um. Hi," she said. "Sorry to interrupt, but… could I talk to Saya, please?"

Bepi looked at me. I looked blankly back at him, but then finally nodded. "Okay," he muttered. "I'll see you around." He strolled casually out the pod, giving me one last concerned look as he did.

Katy did not seem to want to make eye contact. She stepped closer, hands behind her back. "So… me and Lucina got through one of the secret doors, and we found some information. I don't think it's important, but I wanted to tell you." She held out a document to me.

I dumbly reached out and took it. Glancing it over, I saw that it was a photocopy of a newspaper editorial Eugene Alameda had apparently written at some point. He spent the whole time complaining about young people and insisting they were going to ruin the U.S., spending a rather strange amount of time bemoaning the fact that rock music, the 'only worthwhile genre of music,' wasn't as popular anymore.

"We already knew that, right?" Katy said. "The stuff you and Bepi found told us about him and what he believed… so I didn't think this was a big deal. But I still wanted to keep you in the loop."

I numbly scratched the back of my head. "Oh. Thanks."

"…Yeah." She took the paper back and tilted her head cutely. "Saya, you okay? You're acting kind of weird."

"I just… don't you want to talk about the thing that just happened? The question Juliet asked me?"

"Ohh." Katy smiled genuinely. "Oh, that's what you're worried about. No, I'm fine. You didn't want to fall into whatever game she was playing."

I read her face for any sign of deception and found nothing. "But… Lucina? You…"

"Saya." Her tone of voice kind of startled me; she was very serious and focused. Then she sighed and relaxed a little. "Look, I really respect people who can be pure and innocent. Mackenzie was like that, and I loved that about her. But… with Lucina, it isn't like that. It's a more grown-up kind of love." She smiled. "You and Lucina are mature, and I respect that, too. I know you'd tell me if there was something you thought it was important for me to know."

I couldn't do much but gape at her. This creepy little bitch was just dancing all carefree, smug and confident and certain and trusting, while I was suffering? She was the type who always had everything just handed to her. She told me she came out to her dad and he'd been proud. Fucking proud! And she went around like she deserved that, like she deserved Lucina, like…

As I took in that sweet, kind look on her face, I felt myself go cold. I took a step closer to her. I imagined myself making that smile go away, and I felt nothing.

She just shrugged, she hadn't even noticed. I could hear her choking, I could hear it echoing in my head and I had no emotions at all. "Maybe it's stupid to trust anyone here," she said blithely as I felt my muscles pulling my hands towards her throat. "But you're my friend. My first real friend! We're in this together."

I felt again, like having scalding water poured on my face. I jumped back in horror at what I think I had just been about to do.

"Wha…" Katy reached forward in alarm. "Saya!"

I wrapped my arms around myself, pressing a palm against my face. "I'm fine!" I barked as I tried to slow my breathing and stop shivering. "I'm fine I'm fine."

She wrapped her arms around me, almost in tears because of my distress, because fucking of course she did. I let her hold me, the guilt and fear almost squeezing my neck like a noose.

"I'm just scared," I said. I pulled back and looked her in the face. "Please don't ever stop saying to me what you just said," I nearly pled. "Don't let me forget we're friends. Please."

She nodded, actually seriously starting to cry. She embraced me tightly, and I let her.

DORM: UPSTAIRS HALLWAY

After I left the south quad, I exercised and ate a meal and it felt like the rest of the day went by in an instant. I was in a kind of daze, and I decided the only thing to do was to head upstairs to the dorm rooms. On my way up, I looked into the Zen Garden and I think I saw Lucina and Katy in there, meditating.

It was weird; I couldn't bear thinking of what had happened with Katy, but I also couldn't think of anything else. I was thinking and thinking and thinking, and not even filling my head up with chess was working. I knocked on the dorm room door.

After a moment, Bepi opened it. "Saya! What're you…" And I flung myself at him, my lips meeting his with a kind of aggression I didn't think I was actually capable of.

It might have been hours later but it was probably seconds when he pushed me away, still holding on to my shoulders. "Saya…" he said, looking addled. "…look, I'll do this, but we both know I'm not the person you really want to be with. Are you sure?"

That was a really dumb question. In response, I just forced myself forward and kissed him again. He let himself be pushed back and the door closed behind me.

DORM: GIUSEPPI'S ROOM

It was awkward and terrible, of course. But there was a sweetness and gentleness, too, something comforting and warm. He was hard and muscular, but tender, too. It was hot. It was nice.

Afterwards, we lay on his bed, naked, holding hands, and looking up at the ceiling. We were quiet. Chess moves slowly played themselves out in my head.

"You ever done that before?" he asked.

"No."

"You're not gonna get weird, are you?"

I laughed. "I've actually never felt more sure of my platonic friendship with someone in my entire life."

"I really hope you're not the goddamn mastermind," he said.

"I hope you are the mastermind!" I replied. "Because I just this second realized that Monokuma watched that whole thing, and he's probably going to show the mastermind, too."

Bepi smirked. "Hmm. Well, in that case, I hope Rodrigo's the mastermind."

I pulled back and looked at him in shock, then laughed. He laughed too.

Just a few seconds later, there was a loud static sound coming from above us, and then a mechanical woman's voice droned "—is not responding. Please leave your mess—" more static "—the tone."

There was an ugly tone sound, and then a new voice began speaking. It was familiar; I'd heard it many times. "Uh, hi. Hey, this is Gareth McGregor, Ultimate Podcaster, NHU class of 2016 (go bear cubs). Yeah, um, I'm trying to, uh… contact A.A. for some help? I—" static "—just realized, you know, 'aw beans, the check-in date is coming and we haven't heard anything!' I don't know if this semester is just taking longer than usual or what, but I was talking to some of the other alumni, and we're getting a little worried. We—" static "—not doubting the mission or anything, don't worry about that! But I think I speak for everyone when I say we'd be more comfortable stepping into action from an explicit command, and not just from a dead man's switch, you know? T—" more static "—sure everything's fine! You're just on the ground masterminding with all those Ultimate Boys. But just get in touch as soon as you can so we won't all be freaking out. Okay? Okay. Right. Yes." After an awkward moment, there was a loud click.

More static, and then Monokuma's voice screeched out of the speakers. "Whoops! A ha ha! You weren't supposed to hear that, no sir! Just ignore… um…" He paused. "Emergency meeting tomorrow in the main quad!" And then there was another click.

I looked over at Bepi, speechless. He just shrugged. "Nothing can surprise me anymore," he said, rolling over onto his side. "If you stay over, careful touching me while I'm asleep, okay? I can get a little jumpy. See you in the morning."

It actually wasn't long before I heard him snoring. I gazed up at the ceiling, confused.

FACT 8: There is information about the school in the pods, but you have to pass some sort of test to get at it. The test is different in each pod.
FACT 9: One of the pods has 'very important' information, but you have to have 'the right personality' to get in, and you only have one chance.
FACT 10: Someone smashed up the computer lab, just like the cafeteria.
FACT 11: The Cricket works by everyone being strapped in at the same time, and then it shines a red light when you tell a lie. A "lie" to the machine is a statement you know isn't true.
FACT 12: The Cricket also forces you to answer any yes/no questions directed to you.
FACT 13: One of the pods has a 'secret weapon,' but you apparently have to withstand tremendous pain to access it.
FACT 14: A voicemail played from the loudspeakers from one of the alumni of the Ultimates program. He said that he and the other alumni weren't 'doubting the mission,' but they'd 'be more comfortable stepping into action from an explicit command, and not just from a dead man's switch.' Monokuma acted like this voicemail was not actually meant to play publicly.
FACT 15: Our killing game is apparently taking longer than others in the past.